The primary election of a non-presidential year is never the biggest draw to the polls but despite several contested state, county and local races – including historic races in Fishers – Hamilton County voters were unusually unengaged.
Hamilton County Election Administrator Kathy Richardson said Hamilton County has 205,897 registered voters and 24,969 ballots were cast in the primary – a voter turnout of 12.1 percent. Four years ago, the county had 46,585 of its 178,004 registered voters cast ballots for a turnout of 26.2 percent.
“We had more people than we had (four years ago). About 30,000 more registered voters,” she said. “We saw the turnout coming all along. We were behind in absentee ballots which I use as a measuring stick. I didn’t anticipate it being 12 percent.”
Despite the lack of interest among voters, Richardson said Election Day went well.
“One exciting thing was the Fall Creek 37 precinct which was still voting at 8 p.m.,” she said. “It’s a new precinct and it’s exciting that one area really got out and voted.”
Fall Creek 37 had a 57.8 percent voter turnout – the highest in the 2014 primary with the next closest being Delaware 8 with 31.3 percent.
Richardson said the county will solely pay for the election, which is approximately $200,000 or $8 a vote.
“There’s a lot of work and a lot of energy that goes into an election. A lot of races this time and that didn’t seem to matter either,” she said. “The local government is the government that affects them the most on a daily basis and you would think people might have an interest in that.”
Randy Reitzer, inspector of Southwest Westfield 1and 2 and Westfield 24 precincts, said that by 1 p.m. only 94 of its 2,400 registered voters had cast ballots.
“We’re at 4 percent now. A really good day is 20 to 25 percent. A really, really good day in 2008 was almost 35 percent,” he said.
Reitzer said he was warned that officials didn’t expect a heavy turnout and those fears were recognized early on Election Day as there was a lot less morning voters.
“I get real excited when numbers get higher. This bothers me quite a lot that people don’t take the opportunity to vote,” Reitzer said. “I don’t particularly care who gets voted for, but I want people to vote.”
Precincts throughout Westfield had long periods without voters as the city’s turnout was just 7.7 percent. Jack Hart, inspector of East Westfield 1, said that with less than two hours left to vote, only 80 ballots were cast of the 1,100 registered voters.
“I’ve been a precinct worker and inspector for quite a few years and I don’t recall it ever being this slow,” he said. “A good indication on how slow it is was we usually open to two or three people waiting in line. This year there was nobody and the first voter wasn’t until 6:12 a.m. It’s a little difficult to think people are this lethargic. There are issues that affect us and key races out there.”
Richardson said the Democratic Party has until June 30 to hold a caucus to fill any ballot vacancies from the primary and Independents have until July 1 to file for the general election. Voters could see similar names on the ballot as well.
“If they were beat for mayor, they can’t run for mayor but can for city council (under a different party),” Richardson said.
The fall’s general election will include school board races that were not part of the primary election.
